Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 May 16

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From today's featured article

Final Fantasy XI is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy series. Designed and produced by Hiromichi Tanaka, it was released in Japan on May 16, 2002 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers in November of that year. The game was the first cross-platform MMORPG and the Xbox 360's first MMORPG. The story is set in the fantasy world of Vana'diel, where player-created avatars can both compete and cooperate in a variety of objectives to develop an assortment of jobs, skills, and earn in-game item rewards. Players can also undertake an array of quests and progress through the in-game hierarchy and thus through the major plot of the game. Since its debut in 2002, five expansion packs have also been released along with six add-on scenarios. In 2006, between 200,000 and 300,000 active players logged in per day, and the game was the dominant MMORPG in Japan. Final Fantasy XI has a user base of around 500,000 subscribers, and the total number of active characters exceeds 2 million. It is the most profitable title in the Final Fantasy series. (Full article...)

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From Wikipedia's newest content:

... that the spines of a sea urchin (two pictured) are connected to other ossicles by ball and socket joints?

... that Braden Shipley is expected to be the first ever first round pick in a Major League Baseball Draft from the University of Nevada, Reno?

... that the Palace of Inquisition is cited as one of Cartagena's "best examples of late colonial, civil architecture"?

... Johnny Kraaijkamp could have recorded the first version of "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten", one of the best-known Dutch songs of all time, had he not been out drinking the night before?

... that filming of the Mad Max sequel, Fury Road in 2012 caused significant damage to the habitat of Dorob National Park?

... that Maria Konopnicka's poem Rota became so popular it was seen as an unofficial anthem of Poland?

... that Tony Harrison's 1998 film-poem features a giant golden statue of Prometheus travelling through Eastern Europe at the back of a truck and nicknamed Goldenballs?

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In the news

The Maya site Nohmul in Belize is largely destroyed by contractors seeking building materials for nearby road construction.

The Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, led by Boyko Borisov (pictured), wins a plurality in the Bulgarian parliamentary election.

Genetic sequencing of the floating bladderwort reveals that its genome contains just 3% noncoding DNA.

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) wins a plurality in the Pakistani general election.

A Guatemalan court finds former president Efraín Ríos Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.

At least 46 people are killed by a pair of car bombs in Reyhanlı, Turkey.

Measurements of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reach 400 parts per million, the highest level since the Pliocene epoch.

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On this day...

May 16: Teachers' Day in Malaysia

1811 – Peninsular War: An allied force of British, Spanish, and Portuguese troops clashed with the French at the Battle of Albuera south of Badajoz, Spain.

1866 – The United States Congress authorized the minting of the country's first copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel (pictured).

1943 – Royal Air Force Dambusters embarked on a raid to deploy bouncing bombs on German dams in Operation Chastise during the Second World War.

1960 – American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working laser at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

1966 – Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution officially as a campaign to rid China of its liberal bourgeois elements and to continue revolutionary class struggle.

1975 – Based on the results of a referendum held about one month earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India, becoming its 22nd state.

More anniversaries: May 15 – May 16 – May 17

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Today's featured picture

The Treskilling Yellow is a rare 1855 postage stamp from Sweden. Meant to be in a blue-green colour, it was mistakenly printed orangish-yellow. In 1996 the stamp sold for $US 2.3 million at auction; it was sold again, for at least that sum, in 2010.

Design: P.A. Sparre

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